Offshore Wind Farms Bring Fresh Options to Green Energy Market

Offshore wind farms are helping to grow the U.S. wind energy. In fact, roughly 350,000 acres of land off the cost of New Jersey will be leased in November for the full development of offshore wind farms capable of providing 3,4000 megawatts of energy— that’s enough to power about 1.2 million homes! Offshore wind farms aren’t the only aspect of wind energy that is currently booming, but it certainly has one of the brightest futures.

Basic wind energy facts

• The U.S. currently ranks among the top 10 countries in the world in wind power per capita. Considering the large size of the U.S. population compared to the rest of the countries in this range on the rankings, it is a very encouraging sign for U.S. wind power.
• In fact, wind energy is also the #1 source of new power capacity in the U.S., and offshore wind farms are a growing percentage of that market.

Why offshore wind farms?

One concern about renewable energy is the cost associated with obtaining the amount of land required to create an amount of energy that could power a large group of homes. However, the main draw of offshore wind farms is the fact that they exist offshore, cleverly out of the way of most of society.

Offshore wind farms could be deployed all over the planet in the future. When you consider the huge percentage of the Earth’s surface area that is covered by water, you can fully realize the potential that offshore wind farms could have on our planet’s energy future.

Like other forms of renewable energy, offshore wind farms are better for the environment than continued fossil fuel usage. What’s more, the creation and installation of all necessary machinery related to offshore wind farms would be a boost to local economies where these offshore farms are being installed.

From a logistical standpoint however, offshore wind farms would have to be placed in areas where they would not interrupt shipping lanes, meaning that port cities might not be prime locations.

But despite that, off shore wind power has enormous potential. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimates a gross wind potential of 4,223 gigawatts (GW) off the coast of the United States alone – about four times the generating capacity of the entire electric grid in the US.

Looking to learn more about offshore wind energy? Click here for some further reading about the benefits of offshore wind farms!